


The Endorsement

by storm_aurora



Series: The Armory Archives [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Light Angst, Protective Dande | Leon, Sibling Relationship, basically the player character doesn't exist, slight AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 10:41:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25848244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storm_aurora/pseuds/storm_aurora
Summary: Leon won't endorse Hop for the Gym Challenge. Hop and Professor Magnolia want to know why.
Relationships: Dande | Leon & Hop
Series: The Armory Archives [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2048726
Comments: 2
Kudos: 44





	The Endorsement

"Hey, Professor Magnolia, do me a favor. Help me convince Lee to endorse me for the Gym Challenge!" Hop exclaims, bouncing on his feet.

"Oh?" the professor asks, raising her eyebrows. "Leon, why wouldn't you endorse him?"

"Hop only just started out as a Pokémon Trainer," Leon explains with a shrug. "There's still loads he doesn't know yet! He ought to learn more about being a Trainer before he takes on the Gym Challenge."

Professor Magnolia rests her other hand on her cane and eyes Leon over the rims of her glasses. "Dearie, I thought your dream was to have everyone in the Galar region become strong Trainers. Won't allowing Hop to take on the Gym Challenge help him do that?"

"Well, yeah...you're not wrong," Leon admits, rubbing the back of his neck. "But...er, as Champion, I can't just go endorse my little bro like that. That'd be a clear show of favoritism. Hop, why don't you just...train a little, show off your strength, get an endorsement from a Gym Leader or someone just like everyone else?"

"Lee!? What are you - are you serious!?" Hop shouts indignantly, leaning forward as if to start ranting about how unfair that is. Before he can say anything else, though, the professor speaks up.

"Oh, well that won't be a problem, then!" she says cheerfully. "You see, Leon, the chairman just approved me to endorse Trainers for the Gym Challenge this year. So why don't I just endorse Hop right-"

"No!" Leon shouts. 

"No? Why not?" the professor asks calmly.

Leon blinks and quickly lowers the hand he had raised, his eyes flickering between the professor and himself as if only just realizing that he moved - instinctively trying to prevent the professor from handing Hop a letter of endorsement. He looks at his little brother, who is staring at him with wide eyes. Leon lowers his gaze to the ground and purses his lips. "He's not ready."

"Not ready!? I've watched and studied all your matches, Lee! Wooloo and I have been together for years! And Scorbunny's already shaping up to be a valuable partner, too!" The words explode out of Hop like a furious torrent. "What do you mean we're not ready!?"

"It's because you're my little brother, Hop," Leon says, not raising his gaze from the floor. "You'll always be my little brother."

"H-huh?" Hop stammers. Compared to his furious tirade, Leon's words hang in the air like a dense, quiet fog, absorbing all the anger from the room. The silence is almost comforting.

"To me, you'll always be that tiny little kid who was always getting into trouble," Leon murmurs. "The one who nearly got bowled over in the Wooloo fields...the one who kept hiding during thunderstorms because he was scared of the thunder...the one who got lost in Slumbering Weald." A sad smile crosses his face. "I grew up always needing to protect you, and...it's hard for me to accept that you don't need that anymore."

"Lee..."

"But you don't." Leon finally looks up and meets Hop's eyes. He sees his brother's determination in them - a determination that mirrors Leon's own when he took the Gym Challenge all those years ago. And he knows that he can't stand in his little brother's way any longer. "You're all grown up now, ready to go on your Pokémon journey...ready to compete in the Gym Challenge." He glances over at Professor Magnolia. "Professor, do you have a pen?"

There, seated at Professor Magnolia's kitchen table, Leon writes out the letter that will forever shape his little brother's future:

"I, Leon, Champion of Galar, hereby endorse Hop to participate in the Gym Challenge."

(And, weeks later, as Hop stands facing down the legendary Pokémon that not even his brother could defeat, he finally understands what it feels like to be the protector, instead of the protected.)

**Author's Note:**

> I was replaying Shield and the conversation at Magnolia's house where Leon is initially reluctant to endorse Hop and the player got me thinking...what if there was a deeper reason for Leon not wanting to endorse his little brother? And thus this ficlet was born. At first it was just gonna be an extended version of the scene in canon, but then I realized that if the player character wasn't gonna contribute to the conversation they didn't really need to be here at all. That also saved me the effort of trying to decide if it should be Victor or Gloria, lol.
> 
> Kudos and comments are always appreciated! <3


End file.
